Pinetown was established in 1850 along the main wagon route between Durban
and Pietermaritzberg and was named after Sir Benjamin Pine who was the governor of Natal.Pinetown.
Pinetown was also the home of Lord Baden Powell, founder of the
Scout Movement. His original house is preserved there.

Today Pinetown is easily accessible from any of a number of major highways in
the area, and it is largely due to this fact that industry in Pinetown has
increased immensely in recent years. Pinetown lies at the foot of Field's Hill
on the M13 highway along the route of the world famous Comrades Marathon.

Pinetown is also the home of the Lahee Park sporting complex which boasts it's
own swimming pool, hockey, rugby, cricket, and tennis facilities, and in more
recent years a gymnasium and motocross track. The Pinetown Cricket Club, was
established in 1873, and is believed to be the oldest in Kwa-Zulu Natal and one
of the oldest in South Africa.

Overlooking Pinetown is the New Germany Nature Reserve which is a rather small
reserve with pleasant, shady picnic sites, braai areas, wonderful trails which
take visitors in a circular route around the reserve. The main attraction of the
New Germany Nature Reserve is a hide located close to a waterhole where visitors can expect
occasional sightings of zebra, nyala, impala, samango monkeys and others.
Pinetown is also host to an annual racing event which sees hundreds of visitors
flocking to its streets. The main Pinetown streets are closed off to form a track, on
which various motorcycle and go-kart races take place. Other attractions in
Pinetown include the Pineville Junction craft village, which is a recreation of an
old style corrugated iron village, where various arts and crafts, and delicious
snacks are sold on alternate weekends. This is also the site of the popular
Pinetown Lord
William Charles Pub, which was also constructed in a style of times gone by.
There are a number of pubs and clubs in Pinetown, all of which contribute to an
interesting night life. When it comes to shopping in Pinetown, there is the newly
renovated Pine Crest Centre which offers a variety of stores ranging from
jewellery stores to tobacconists.

Pinetown Accommodation - Generally bed and breakfast accommodation in
Pinetown is the order of the day. Due to the vast industrial area called
Westmead Industrial, Guest House accommodation in Pinetown attracts business
reps from all over South Africa. Pinetown self catering accommodation tends to
be a little less in demand and would mainly be taken up by visiting families in
the area who would benefit from Self Catering accommodation in Pinetown because
it would be more cost effective accommodation (especially with children)

Self catering accommodation in Pinetown is sometimes preferred by business
firms who may send contractors out for extended periods of time. In this case,
Pinetown bed and breakfast would prove to be too expensive.

As a holiday destination, Pinetown would not be rated as a favourite.
Pinetown self catering accommodation as well as the Pinetown bed and breakfast
and guest house operations would get too much competition from the accommodation
in Durban itself (more holiday friendly)

During big events such as The Comrades Marathon, Pinetown bed and breakfast
as well as Pinetown self catering gets support due to the shortage of Durban
accommodation or Pietermaritsburg accommodation.

Guest visit to PinetownMy husband and I were visiting Pinetown to attend a birthday party. We
searched for accommodation in Pinetown and also the surrounding areas like
Cowies Hill accommodation, New Germany accommodation , Westville accommodation
and Durban accommodation.

There wasn't much suitable self catering accommodation in Pinetown, but we were
able to find a lovely Bed and Breakfast in Pinetown called Rossi's B&B which is
situated in Sarnia, a suburb of Pinetown which was perfect for us as it was
close to the venue.

When we searched for accommodation in the Durban surrounding towns we did find
other very nice Bed and Breakfast, Self Catering and Hotel accommodation but
decided to stick with the Pinetown Bed and Breakfast because of access to the
venue and also considering the drink and drive regulation.

Having left the gift-buying to the last minute (as usual) we were fortunate to
find Pinecrest Centre in central Pinetown which had a variety of shops such as
CNA, Crazy Store, Ackermans, Pep Stores and Game......success!! . We noticed on
the way out that there was another mall right across from Pinecrest centre which
had some interesting shops.
Some parts of Pinetown weren't bad, there are a few fast food restaurants in
Pinetown such as McDonalds, KFC, Steers, Nandos and many more of the popular
franchises. We also passed the Pinetown library which apparently is quite lovely
inside.

Apart from the fast food restaurants, the library, the Pinecrest Centre and
other small shops along the road there isn't really much to see or do in
Pinetown. All along the main road there is an unusually high volume of car
dealerships.
Also on the main road is the Pinetown High School and the Police Station.

The night before returning to Johannesburg, our friends decided to all meet at
the Spur at Sandy Centre in Pinetown for Dinner, it is a great family restaurant
and kept the kids busy (children's entertainment section)

I wouldn't look for holiday accommodation in Pinetown - Pinetown has nothing to
offer for holiday makers ( Durban Beachfront accommodation is only about 15km
away).